JANUARY 2024 EDITION

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

While the month of December always marks the end of a year, December of 2023 came & went with an ease that resonated with a comforting stability. All of the students completed their coursework on time with the athletic travel scattering around the globe. While we did not receive the amount of snowfall that we would have hoped for, living in the Pacific Northwest has taught us all to appreciate whatever gifts we are given ie sunshine, rain or snow. We got the opportunity to more fully utilize our new A Team, B Team, C Team structure with some of the students heading up to the Yukon while others went to Southern California. The synergy between departments continued to exceed expectations with residential staff members joining the coaches on the road as the academic team held it down back on campus. With the continued eb & flow of the seasons, our island in the woods has continued to grow & we all look forward to the largest arrival day we have ever had in the history of Wy'East Academy this January.

-Mike Hanley, Head of School

ACADEMICS

December was an incredible month for our student athletes! Our snow and skate students took full accountability for their studies and ALL ATHLETES met accelerated pacing metrics that allowed them to travel the last two weeks of term without pressure to work on their courses. What a win!

It is clear our Wy’East students are prepared to move into peak travel and competition season. The determination to manage time effectively and take ownership of learning that many students strengthened this fall will serve them well as our schedules become more dynamic this winter.

Once students began finishing their courses, teachers assisted with end of term housekeeping and facilitated games, puzzles, and more social activities for the students. It was a lovely, slow, end of term. We hope you have enjoyed having your kiddos home for a few weeks!

Hannah and Adam

STUDENT OF THE MONTH: ETHAN VUONG

Ethan's drive to succeed is unmatched! He’s been crushing on the athletic side of things grinding tons of new rail tricks! His new passion for filming has been great to watch unfold!
-Topher, Coach

Ethan is an incredible student and it is wonderful to have him as a leader on our campus! One of my favorite things about Ethan is his commitment to gratitude. Each time we speak, he ends the conversation with, "Thank you, Hannah." I am always reminded of the power of a thank you and am inspired to share thanks more broadly. Thank you Ethan! We are lucky to have you :)
-Hannah, Teacher

Ethan Vuong has gone out of his way to distinguish himself as a student going back to his arrival at Wy'East Academy. While many youth look to others to find opportunities to improve, Vuong chose to take it upon himself to deliver consistent digital media resources that push the capabilities of professional departments. Not to mention the fact that around the clock there is always a smile on his face that brightens up every room he enters. His presence is going to be sincerely missed next year, but we all know that he is going to go on to even more success!
-Mike Hanley, Head of School

STUDENT LIFE

New Assistant Medical Coordinator, Brandon Blynn

The short two weeks of December were filled with travel for many of our students. Those who were on campus filled the weekends ice skating and attending a Winterhawks professional ice hockey game. Many new and exciting activities are on the horizon for the Winter 2024 semester.

Student government worked diligently during December to plan a welcome assembly for the beginning of Winter Term, and are looking forward to another semester of projects and improvements to our campus.

Campus hung tight and quiet while students traveled home to be with family for the holidays, and Mt. Hood finally decided winter was in order; the snow has begun to fall and doesn’t appear to stop soon.

Here is to the new year of 2024.
Barbara

Meet new Assistant Medical Coordinator, Brandon Blynn

I’m Brandon Blynn, I come to Wy'east academy with the urge to inspire others to embrace adventure, explore the outdoors, and discover their full potential. Being an avid skater and snowboarder, the opportunity to work with students with the same passions as me is a dream come true. My experience as wilderness first responder and excitement for risk management is what I’m excited to bring to the academy.

CULINARY

The month of December was a great time to wrap up a great year for the Culinary Department. While we did have teams traveling in the few last weeks, it was a good time to start reflecting on the year. Being able to have a little fun with the food we provided. In the last few weeks of the Fall Term, we were doing an omelet bar in the morning. The students that were here loved it and I will be continuing to do it throughout the Winter Term. For lunches and dinners, we created their favorites to send them off into the holiday season on the right foot.

For the upcoming Winter Term, we will be trying some new things. The first thing we will be doing is a broth bar. We will be having 3 different broths with toppings so that students can come in and make
themselves their own bowl of soup and take it to go. We also have some other items in the works that I will keep you updated on.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and this next year is amazing one for everyone.

Travis and team

FREESKI

Ski team warming up with some yoga in B.O.B.

Greetings Freeski Families,

As we embark on 2024, we want to highlight the last of our training for 2023! December was an action packed month on the freeski team, with only a few weeks of training before winter break, and mother nature not cooperating as we wished she would, we successfully looked for snow elsewhere!

SKI A & B headed north, wayyyy North! Mt. Sima in the Yukon Territories provided just what we needed for some pre-season competition training. They were equipped with a slopestyle specific training venue that had a big air site, large jumps, and jibs for our crew to push progression and prepare for the upcoming competition season. During our weekdays training there instead of running the lifts they provided us with snowmobile operators to tow us around the mountain, and we were the only ones there! A truly superior training experience! Everyone came home with some clips, and at least one new learn.

SKI C opted to go south to Mammoth Mountain Resort, where they were greeted with a great early season park offering! Mammoth had 2 parks equipt with a few jumps, jibs and a bit of something for everyone! Outside of the park provided some more “Industrial” terrain up towards the top, that our skiers took advantage of, working on edging in substandard conditions.

Just as we hope everyone enjoyed having their student athletes home over winter break, we are excited to have them back to kick off our winter semester! Mother Nature has finally woken up and the forecast is looking cold and snowy!

All the best,

Breeze, Toph & Shannon

SNOWBOARD

Welcome Snowboard families to the start of our Winter term!

We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday break full of quality time spent as a family! We are very excited for what we have in store this semester as we continue to build on the progress made over the Fall term. First, a quick recap of the final few weeks of school last month as the team hit the road between two different destinations. Most of the B & C team headed south to Mammoth where they scored some time in the park, making use of Mammoth’s early season offering of many different rail features and a medium sized jump. The trip went according to plan of maximizing time on snow, trick progression in preparation for the upcoming competitions, and social media content creation to build your athlete’s digital portfolios. A huge thank you to Stewart, Alec, and Will Stephens for spearheading that offering while I took a small group up North to Mt. Sima.

The A team took full advantage of the private Big Air jump and slopestyle training venue for 5 straight days on snow, logging some focused sessions on both to dial in their competition runs and progressing into new tricks for the upcoming season. We really focused on the whole package of training hard, taking care of our bodies, eating well and finding that healthy cycle that allows for high level performance. This is something everyone will need to refine as they continue to expect great things in the world of action sports.

We hope that during your time together over the holidays each athlete was able to share with you all their highs and lows, showed some of the content that is filmed on a daily basis, and opened up about their goals for the season. As we prepare for a busy winter season, please be on the lookout for communications around trips and competitions, but as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with specific questions. Thank you all for your continued support in your athletes journey!

-Brandon, Stew, & Alec.

MOUNTAIN BIKE

Lucio clearing ice off the airbag one chilly morning

The last 2 weeks of the semester for our MTB students was full of gym time, skills work in the skatepark, and indoor airbag training. We saw gains in the gym as well as big improvements with the everyday use of the indoor airbag. We had structured time for every student to progress in the airbag no matter the skill level, and we are able to confidently say every kid was able to learn a new trick or two. Now we are off to Chile!

Asa and Bolio

SKATEBOARD

Skate team celebrity sighting in San Diego

Hi Families,

Welcome to the winter/spring semester! I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break and we are excited to get this semester started. A quick recap: December was a short month on campus but it was action packed. Skate was in Southern California soaking up sunny weather until the last week of the semester. We made our way all over Southern California from the San Fernando Valley to San Diego. A couple highlights from the trip would be visiting San Diego State University (which Thomas was accepted to during the break), Having dinner at Cam’s house (Thank you Nicole and Tim), Spending a rest day at the San Diego Zoo, and getting a quick skate session with alumni Josh Herman. Thomas hit his first (of many) big street rails, Boardsliding and Feebeling a 12 stair rail in LA! Cam casually put down a 1 minute run through Linda Vista skatepark as a warm up when we got there which is no easy task! We were lucky enough to also meet up with Justin Hughs from Seager clothing company: Robert Blazek from 2 risers, Palace, and Frog skateboards: and Jimmy Rehman who’s possibly the best mini ramp skater on the planet.

Looking at this new semester we will be non stop until graduation. Our projected trips will be Southern California, Phoenix Az for the PHX Am, and to end the semester with New York City. Our campus will play host once a month to the Seek Skate Camp Contest Series. These events are open to the public and more information can be found at SEEK YOUTH CONTEST Series 2024 or https://seekskatecamp.com/contest. The skate program would also like to welcome Cash Hancock who is joining the program as a junior from Oklahoma.

Please reach out with any questions and I am excited to get this semester started.

Brian Johnson

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

My name is Eddie Gildea. I grew up in Boston and began slopestyle skiing competitively at 14. I was nominated for the US Ski Team at 17. After a series of knee injuries brought my short ski career to an end I went to Northeastern University and studied Mathematics and Psychology. I commissioned as an officer in the US Army through their ROTC program.